If you are planning on publishing on Kindle, you will come across the question of which channel will be best to publish in: Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) or Kindle Direct Publishing Select. To help you answer this question, I have decided to write this blog to show you the pros and cons of each.

Pros

KDP Pros

One of the biggest pros that KDP offers is that you can publish your book on Amazon and any other websites such as Apple, Kobo, and Barnes and Noble. It also offers you a lower starting sell price of $.99 and if you decide to have your book available elsewhere, you can even make it available for free in those sites.

KDP Select Pros

If you decide to go the KDP Select route, your book will be available on Kindle Unlimited, which pays per page read. Every month, Amazon determines the total amount of the Select fund to calculate a per-page rate and pays readers accordingly. Your book will also be available in the Kindle Owner’s Lending Library (KOLL) program, which is the program included in Amazon Prime subscriptions. Prime subscribers have access to one eBook for free per month.

You will also be available to earn a 70% royalty and have access to Kindle promotional tools such as countdowns, ads, etc. Kindle Select offers you the option of having your book available for free for a duration of five days every 90 days. This give you the opportunity to provide your readers with special promotions every three months or so.

Cons

KDP Cons

One of the downsides of having your book available on KDP is not being able to offer your book through the Kindle Unlimited program. Kindle Unlimited is a program that allows readers to have access to a library of over one million titles in the Kindle Store including books, audiobooks, and magazines, in exchange for a monthly subscription of $9.99.

Your earnings will be only 35% of the price of your book and, unfortunately, you won’t have access to the Kindle promotional tools.

KDP Select Cons

One of the biggest cons about enrolling your book in KDP Select is the inability to sell your book elsewhere. You will be giving Amazon exclusive rights for your book. This means, that you cannot have more than 10% of your book anywhere else, not even your own website. If Amazon finds out that there is more than the percentage allowed somewhere other than in Amazon, your book will be removed. You must be very careful because some authors have even gotten their accounts suspended for violating this rule.

If you have published your book somewhere else before going into Kindle Publishing, you will have to make sure that you remove the content on those sites before publishing on Amazon. This can be detrimental, since some books could have acquired reputable rankings in those sites. Removing the books will lose all previous acquired rankings.

Another con is that you cannot offer your book for free outside of the five days allowed during the promo period and you must price your book at a minimum of $2.99. Many authors provide their book for free for a long period of time to build a list of followers and to get reviews. This minimum price might make that process a bit more difficult, since not many are willing to pay $2.99 for books published by unknown authors. Keep in mind that Amazon will always control your per-page-read earnings as they set the KDP Select fund.

Conclusion

KDP or KDP Select? It all depends on what your publishing objectives are. If you would like to have your book available in different websites, then go with the KDP option. This will also prevent you from having all your eggs in one basket and it will allow you to reach audiences outside of Amazon. If you are planning on developing a following by taking advantage of Amazon’s reach, then go the KDP Select route. This is a good option if you are planning on releasing series.

My suggestion is to give both a try. See what works for you and what doesn’t and go from there. KDP Select might be a good option for some books and might not be for others. Just keep in mind that if you go with Select, you will be at the mercy of Amazon. If you only want to give Select a try for 90 days, do not forget to uncheck the auto-renewal box. Otherwise, your book will automatically renew.

Happy publishing!

The post Kindle Direct Publishing vs Kindle Direct Publishing Select appeared first on Project Online Publishing.

If you are someone who loves writing as much as I do, there is a big chance that the thought of publishing a book has crossed your mind. However, this can seem like a very daunting task. There are so many components to consider when publishing a book than just writing it; from deciding what your cover would look like, to choosing your publishing platform and price, to ultimately promoting it. Nevertheless, if you want to see your dream of becoming an author come true, you must learn the ins and outs of the business.

I have written this blog to give you an idea of what it takes to publish an eBook on Kindle. Keep in mind that this blog is for beginners and it contains basic information that will be helpful to those who are not yet familiar with Kindle publishing.

But you may ask, why Kindle?

There is no secret that Amazon is considered one of the largest, if not the largest, online retailer in the world. It provides a platform that is optimal for seasoned and beginning authors alike, since millions of people visit Amazon daily. This means that your book can potentially be exposed to these visitors, increasing your changes to sell. Amazon is widely known for its Kindle store, which is the go-to place to buy eBooks for many readers. Amazon also has a program called Kindle Unlimited where buyers have access to over one million titles and thousands of audio books. There is no limit as to how many eBooks and audibles a buyer can access. The publishing process is also fairly easy, making this platform attractive to many authors.

Writing or Outsourcing?

The very first question that you need to ask yourself is if you will be writing your own content or if you will be outsourcing it. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. For instance, if you plan on writing your own content, you are limited to the amount of work you can produce. On the other hand, outsourcing gives you the opportunity to scale your business and expand your book collection.

If you decide to go for the outsourcing route, you can hire a ghostwriter on websites like Fiverr or Upwork. The rates vary from writer to writer; some offer their services starting at two cents per word while others charge a few dollars. You need to do some research to make sure you are getting quality content and always request examples of the work to make sure that is up to your standards.

If you decide to write your own book, the very first thing that you need to do is to find a niche. This means that you need to find what type of content you will be providing in your eBook, what type of audience will the eBook be for, and under what category you will be selling your eBook in.

This process can be broken down into two options:

1) You can write under a category that you have an expertise in. This will make the writing process easier and faster. However, the downfall is that you might not have enough readers interested in this topic.

2) You can research what is popular, research the topic and write your eBook. For instance, fiction has a large pool of readers who like to consume multiple eBooks and at a fast rate. This provides a good opportunity for your eBook. However, competition is high due to high demand.

Once you have decided what to write about and after you have done the necessary research (if applicable), you need to write your first draft. Please, do not be picky at this point. This is only your first draft. You need to write your ideas down as they come. The more you can write, the better.

After you have done your first draft, make sure to give your eBook a title that is keyword optimized. This means that the title contains words that people search for when browsing through the eBooks selection. For instance, if you want to write an eBook about how to lose weight, do not just name it “How to Lose Weight.” Instead, go a bit more specific like “How to Lose Weight and Live Healthier in Just a Week.” When you start typing on the search bar, Amazon suggests topics for you. Writing in these topics will give you a better chance to expose your content to readers since they are already looking for these specific topics.

Once you have come up with the title, make sure you read your eBook thoroughly to look for any errors, misspelled words, and correct punctuation. This second draft should then be given to an editor who can carefully go through your eBook to pick up any additional errors that you may have missed.

Cover Page

While your eBook is in the editing process, you can work on your cover page. This can either be done by yourself if you have graphic design experience or it can be outsourced. If you are planning on outsourcing your cover page, you can find graphic designers on websites like Fiverr and 99designs. Again, ask the designer for examples of their previous work to make sure their work is of quality.

Your cover page is one of your most powerful marketing tools. Have you ever heard the phrase “do not judge a book by its cover”? Well, guess what? People do it all the time. If the cover is not appealing to the reader, chances are, they won’t be interested in your book. You could have written a masterpiece but if the cover is not attractive enough to spark some interest in readers, your eBook won’t sell. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of having a high-quality cover for your book.

I also suggest that you do some research in your niche for reference. Look at what other authors have done with their covers and pay attention to the ones that sell well. Some writers design their covers totally different from their competitors to stand out but this can also result in readers not being interested, since many stick to books with similar covers and content. At the end of the day, the choice is yours but I do suggest that your eBook cover follows a style like those eBooks that are selling.

For better results, make sure that you follow Amazon’s guidelines when designing your cover page. The ideal dimensions should be 2,560 X 1,600 pixels and as a JPEG or TIFF file. The image should also be less than 50MB and avoid compressing the image.

Format Your Book

When you receive your final draft, after all corrections, along with your cover page, you will be ready to format your eBook for Kindle. Most writers use a Microsoft Word file for their eBooks and then follow the formatting guidelines to convert it to a kindle-friendly format. You can find the formatting guidelines here. Before you decide to upload the file to publish, double-check how the entire eBook displays to make sure you provide your readers with the best reading experience.

Description

The next step after you have uploaded your eBook is to create a good description that will attract readers. Your description, just like your cover, is a very important marketing tool. You have to make sure it is written in such a way that it leaves the reader wanting for more. Think of your description as the equivalent of a movie trailer. You want to highlight the important aspects of your eBook. If you are writing non-fiction, explain what solutions the reader will receive in order to solve the problems they currently face. If your book is fiction, give them a glimpse of what your main character will be facing. Make sure that your description is clear, catchy and inciting enough. Keep in mind that this is your eBook’s preview, the sales pitch, and it will determine whether a reader decides to buy it.

Royalty

Setting your royalty might seems like a simple task. However, you might be faced with questions such as, what should be the right price for my work? Should I enroll in Kindle Unlimited? I should go for a high price since it took me a long time to write this eBook that contains a lot of quality, right?

Let me just give you some guidelines to help you decide what route to take.

You have two options when it comes to royalties, you can either make 35% of the sales of your eBook and have absolute control on what to price your eBook at, or you can enroll your eBook in Kindle Unlimited where you give Amazon exclusive rights to sell your eBook and make 70% of the royalties, but with this option, you must price your eBook between $2.99USD and $9.99USD. Another thing to consider when choosing the 70% royalty option is that if you are planning on selling hard copies, you must price your eBook at least 20% below the hard copy price.
For more detailed information on royalty, please check out Amazon’s royalty rates here.

Publish and Promote

Once you have finalized all previous steps, it is time to publish your eBook and to promote it. The very first eBook you publish will be the one that helps you build your list, if you do not have one yet. For you to build a list, you must provide a good incentive for people to sing up. This could be a sneak peek of book number two if you have a series or perhaps access to a special offer. This should be included at the beginning and at the end of your eBook in the form of a call to action.

You should also use social media to promote your eBook. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are good platforms to utilize to promote your eBook. They are free and allow you to reach audiences beyond your immediate social circle. You can also invest on marketing strategies to increase exposure, but for your first eBook I suggest that you utilize organic traffic. Why? Simple, you will make a lot of mistakes with your first eBook. Publishing is a learning process, the more you do it, the better you become at it. You need to identify what works and what does not. Once you have had some experience and know what works, you can then venture into paid marketing.

One tip that I strongly suggest to grow your list is to give your first eBook for free. This will allow readers to become familiar with your quality of work. The free eBook should direct them to sign up to your list in exchange for something of good quality. It should also direct them to your other eBooks and personal blog. If you do not have a blog yet, please start one. You want to start building a brand outside of Amazon so that you do not solely depend on it.

Other Formats

Kindle eBooks are just one format that Amazon offers. I would suggest for you to explore its other two formats to increase your sales. These two formats are print-on-demand books though Createspace and audio books through Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX).

Createspace offers authors the opportunity to print on demand to avoid the hassle of carrying an inventory. No more having to buy 100 books and store them in your garage in the hopes of selling them to family and friends, and just about everybody else that you meet. There are about 15 trim sizes for black and white books with a minimum page requirement of 24 to a maximum of 828, depending on the trim size. For colored books, the minimum page requirement is 24 with a maximum of 480, again, depending on the trim size. Createspace royalties are determined by a number of factors such as interior type, number of pages and trim size. For more information on Createspace’s royalties, click here.

ACX offers three different royalty options: royalty share with exclusive distribution to Audible, pay for production (which comes in a way of a flat fee) with exclusive distribution, and pay for production (flat fee as well) without exclusive distribution rights. For the first option, the royalties are the same for the producer and the rights holder. They both earn 20% of the sales. For the second option, the rights holder pays a one-time flat fee to the producer and earns 40% of the sales. The third option works like the second option in regards to payment to the producer but earns only a 20% of the sales. If you decide to go exclusive with Audible, keep in mind that the term for exclusive distribution is seven years. This means that you cannot have your audible book anywhere else besides Amazon for the duration of the term. For more information on ACX, click here.

Conclusion

To conclude, I would like to outline this blog post in eight simple steps:

• Kindle is a great platform to publish due to Amazon’s reach to potential customers
• Decide whether you want to write your eBook or outsource it
• Write quality content, proofread it and edit it
• Create an attractive cover page
• Format your book for Kindle
• Write a compelling description
• Set up your royalties
• Publish and promote

If you are planning on publishing a book, Kindle is a great platform to do it on. It is currently the go-to place for eBooks for millions of customers. It also offers three different platforms to choose from: eBooks, print-on-demand, and audible. Do not limit yourself to eBooks only!

I hope this introductory post was helpful to you. I will continue to share what I have learned in this Kindle Publishing journey in posts to come. Happy publishing!

The post Kindle Publishing – How to Publish an eBook appeared first on Project Online Publishing.